My Thoughts on the Four Roses Acquisition

Hey, what's up, everybody? Fred Minic here. Hold on. Let me just take a nice drink of coffee from my new cup mmm Best husband ever. So I just want to point out that I got this for Valentine's Day So I apologize to all the other husbands out there, but I'm now number one. I Had I had to do that, I'm sorry that was way too Way too lame. But yeah, I'm starting this whole video out with the lamest thing ever but The whole purpose of this video is for me to talk about four roses Getting acquired by Ian J. Gallo. So I Have been predicting on bourbon pursuit for no less than four years That four roses would be acquired So every year at our end of year or our first of year roundtable where we make predictions About what's going to happen in the world. I would always say four roses is getting acquired this year and here's the thing like I don't get my information from like like liquor store owners or distributors or you know, that's how a lot of like rumors start or like Whiskey clubs or anything like that. I get my information from people actually at the distillery Like so I've had like people tell me for years like yeah Pernod Ricard was in here today I'm pretty sure the offers in and we're gonna find out what it's gonna be So I've been I just I get information from people at these distilleries have been covering it for a long time and I Just every year I was like, okay, this is the year four roses gonna sell Kieran's gonna sell four roses And it just never happened. It's never happened But if you go back and look at when Pernod Ricard acquired Jefferson's Rabbit-hole, you know, those were years that they were making plays for four roses And so if you see like other brands like Constellation other ones when they when they make big moves Everyone always tried to start with four roses four roses is like was like this crown jewel in American Whiskey that came up from nowhere In the early 2000s and became like one of the most popular whiskeys in the world Because the quality was so good but Kieran never put one ounce of quality marketing behind it in comparison to say Jim Beam Which has purchased tons of commercials in comparison to Sazerac which has developed its own like new level of Marketing with what they have done with Buffalo Trace, you know, they have just Four roses never got any kind of special looks they would get magazine newspaper ads or magazine Mac whiskey magazine ads or they would get You know, maybe an activation at a music festival or some kind of trade series But you never saw anything Creative really by the Kieran side a lot of a lot on the PR a lot of good write-ups on them but there was the marketing side of things before Rose was always kind of like yeah, it was it was a brand that sold whiskey Because the whiskey is good. It was so good In fact, there was only one distillery in the last 25 years that went toe-to-toe With Pappy with the Buffalo Trace antique collection with everything coming out of Buffalo Trace that has just dominated a lot of the whiskey a Lot of the whiskey tasters out there and the spirits competitions and that was for roses Every single year for roses limited-edition small batch would be up there with with with Anything else in the world? It was always that good and then I actually picked like the The 125th anniversary one as my top bourbon of this century so far. I still stand by that I still think it's the best bourbon that's been made this century for roses is Amazing and yet Kieran never did anything with that. Maybe they bought a billboard in Louisville But what did they do in LA? What did they do in New York? Like you would go in some places in LA or New York and you'd ask the bartender for four roses and if you're not at a whiskey bar, I mean, they wouldn't even know what it is and It's like how could this beautiful? fascinating Brand Get no marketing love none and also they had probably I'm actually gonna go out on the limb here and and say Probably the greatest distiller at the turn of the century So Jim Rutledge Jim Rutledge was in my opinion The best distiller when we turn went from the 90s to the early 2000s Okay, look, I love all of the distillers of that time frame. They were all great But what Jim Rutledge did and how he made whiskey and his philosophies for making whiskey just was unparalleled to anybody else and Instead of keeping this man and honoring this man They let him retire You know some could say he got kicked to the curb But he went out on his own If you are a brand a Kentucky bourbon, you don't let one of those master distillers go Not only could this man make whiskey But he could talk about whiskey with anybody whether you were a newbie whether you were a Grizzled bourbon veteran whether you were a bartender. He could talk about bourbon to anybody and They let him walk away after I gosh I wanted to say like 49 years of working for Seagram's and and later Kieran But he was for roses, but hey, no problem. No problem Jim Rutledge was great. You know people do move on things happen. Don't know Well, I can't report the full story, but I'll just say like, you know things happen people move on. That's life It's life. It happens all the time Brent Elliott comes in is friggin great and you could say like right away. He instantly becomes Probably the best like young distiller of all the big big distilleries. He's fantastic. His blends are fantastic his whiskey was great the the Special the special small batch select that they put out that black label completely changed like I was like, oh my gosh This is great. This is awesome. I was like, this is gonna supplant Woodford at a lot of these like high-end Restaurants that are pouring Woodford as like a super premium, but no it did not it did not because Kieran never really invested in the brand as They should from a marketing perspective now a lot of that's because of the way they rotated through here I think it was like every four years Kieran would place a new president at Four Roses from Japan and nothing wrong with that if there's like a You know, they've got it all worked out but it just like every four years they would just have like new set of thought and guidelines and I Would always hear about new like marketing firms coming in new New PR firms coming in and listen, I mean that happens But just like with the football team if you're replacing your offensive coordinator every year, it's hard to get going But the thing is is like this was not a losing team Four Roses was not only One of the greatest bourbons and one of the greatest bourbon stories and the fact that it was off of the US market since the 1950s comes back in the early 2000s because of the sure wit and love and skill and Effort by Jim Rutledge and Al Young and all the other people who worked at Four Roses if it wasn't for them bringing this product back You know, I mean, it's one of the greatest stories in American whiskey history I guess I'm going on and on and on but you know, I'll put a link I'll put a link in the description for a story I wrote in the past you understand what happened there because it can go I could I could go off on a different tangent I want to get to gallo. So I want to get to gallo and like how big I think this is I think that Kieran was trying to get a really good number for the last four or five years bourbon has changed There was no longer all the suitors Everyone had kind of made their bed in American whiskey and then here comes gallo gallo has been You know pushing horse soldier and doing a great job Marketing horse soldier you fly into the Louisville Airport horse soldier horse soldier horse soldier metal metal metal metal You know, they're there every they're at every liquor store. There's signage at every liquor store There is There in menus there people are talking about them They're their founders are out talking constantly, you know, their distillery hasn't necessarily gotten off the ground There's been some hiccups there. I mean that that's it That's the little some of the problems and so, you know horse soldier has been an incredible Well marketed product now the whiskey, you know, is it for roses? No, but nothing's for roses if you would ask me like what is the most consistently good Distillery in Kentucky. I would say for roses I have maybe had one bottle in my life of four roses that I thought was swill one and That was a single barrel From the 1990s. I gave a review on that and I swear to God I had three calls from the people who worked on that and in the in that at that time frame like yeah You were right about that one the cork wasn't good or they would say something like we had like we had some bad barrels in that one and you know, We had some bad rotations of the barrels and blah blah blah blah And it was like, you know So I kind of hit like a touch where they take so much pride in their and their whiskey making there but I think Gallo is going to turn four roses into a mega giant Now here's the deal Their whiskey is so good And if somebody gets the marketing legs behind them Like I think Gallo could Gallo is like the fourth largest spirits manufacturer in the country they've got experience in gin vodka and ENJ brandies Enormous and then you've got all the wine that they're in They are at every single pocket of every country club every liquor store every restaurant chain They can get four roses anywhere whereas up until now four roses has largely been treated like say like a craft brand in Small markets that don't have like large, you know sells Efforts or large distribution companies that really put a lot of focus on that brand I've done events all over this country and I am telling you Absolutely telling you that I have not been able to get something like four roses single barrel in a place like Montana, Idaho The Dakotas, but you can get them but say, you know, you're in one you're in a location You know, there might be five bottles in the market You know There could be there's just issues all around and smaller markets with getting some of these bottles Now I'm telling you that the gallo is going to put an end to that four roses is going to be well marketed I Anticipate they'll probably change some packaging here and there I I don't know I don't know if they'll take the whiskey from four roses and put it over in the horse soldier a little bit I expect that's probably a possibility now that they own the the brand but You know, the truth is like this excites me Everyone is like I've seen a lot of people like poopoo this acquisition It's exciting for me because gallo is putting a lot of effort Into growing horse soldier and what they have done with horse soldier from a marketing perspective to me is phenomenal Put that same effort into a brand like four roses, which is well chefs kiss one of the greatest bourbon stories of all time The best bourbon to come out this century in my opinion and Just consistently great across the board at so many different price points and you're telling me You put that marketing in the hands of gallo or you put that whiskey in the hands of the gallo Marketers watch out. It's good. It's gonna take off Yeah, I absolutely love this Love love love love this acquisition now I've been predicting it for so long that I'm glad it went to someone who I think would take care of it. I didn't like Sazerac for this. I didn't like constellation for that definitely didn't like beam and you know, I thought pernod ricard was a good fit, but Gallo is a better fit because gallo is hungry for American whiskey And here is what American whiskey needs we're at a downturn right now Every single time in history when there is a downturn in American whiskey There is one brand one brand will rise up and become the story and you're gonna hear it here first You're gonna hear me say it. I think for roses becomes that brand for roses has been a great brand It's been the talk of the town in Kentucky and all the whiskey geese people have loved it everything But for that was the same Situation that makers mark was in which was much smaller much much smaller in the 70s In early 80s when Hiram Walker got a hold of that and Bill Samuels got some money Injected into him and he was allowed to do his creativity like he wanted to makers market Skyrocketed and that became the brand that we know today with the clever marketing for roses has been the brand we have loved and know for a long long time and It's just needed someone who cared about it to market it in the right way and Gallo was hungry. Gallo is hungry to get into the space and make some noise and they've got the money to do it and they will listen hopefully to the people in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky and You know, hopefully hopefully It continues to take off and it does great and for roses becomes a brand that kind of breaks through that ice And helps bourbon get out of this funk. It's in right now. So That's my thought. I'm about to head to New York. I got I'm in the middle of my book tour In fact, my book bottom shelf just launched. I hope you check it out if you haven't already You can go to Barnes & Noble. You can find it at bookshop. It's wherever books are sold. But Yeah, really proud of this It's my life story how I got into bourbon after I came home from Iraq and became a taster And I'm just so fortunate and thankful for everyone who supported me through my journey that includes you Even just watching this video. It just gets me excited. I love what I do and I love bourbon with all of my heart and So I say thanks Cheers to you all Thanks for coming out to another video that I've dropped and I hope to see you on my book tour You can go to fredminich.com to see the full dates that are out there. I'll be posting more soon But yeah, just so excited to be be out doing some tastings and talking about my new book Cheers